Watch Ann Curry’s Tearful Goodbye to ‘Today’

Ann Curry formally confirmed the swirling rumors about her future on the TODAY show this morning with a tearful announcement that she'll be leaving the morning program, starting today, after a year as co-host.

Curry welcomed back the audience after a commercial break and announced, "Today is going to be my last morning as a regular co-host of TODAY. I will still be a part of the TODAY show family, but I'm going to have a new title and a new role." Her new formal title will be TODAY Anchor at Large and National and International Correspondent for NBC News which, in short, means she will anchor prime-time specials and report for TODAY, Nightly News, Rock Center, Dateline and MSNBC.

Curry was choked up from the very beginning and appeared especially saddened towards the end of her speech when she said:

And for all of you who saw me as a groundbreaker, I'm sorry I couldn't carry the ball over the finish line [pause] but man, did I try. And so to all of you who watch, thank you from the bottom of my heart for letting me touch yours.

Despite their somewhat tumultuous relationship (reports blamed Lauer for forcing NBC's hand to fire his co-host), Curry was joined by co-anchor Matt Lauer who added, "You’ve made us better, and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts."